Chaitra Powell: Week 39 @ The Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum

In my 39^th week at the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum, I worked fervently on my final HistoryMakers reports, watched a couple films from the Pan-African Film Festival, and bid farewell to all of my friends at the museum.

I devoted all day Monday and Tuesday to the completion of these reports. I could not believe how much I have learned and accomplished over the last nine months; writing about those projects and collections brought all of the memories back to me. One of the most striking realizations for me came when the survey asked if this experience increased my ability to find a position in an archive. I answered no, because I have become a generalist, rather than an expert in anything. I’m not an expert on preservation, digitization, or donor relations because of the fellowship, but I have gained more experience in all of these avenues as a result of the fellowship. For all of this time, I thought that I would like nothing better than to be the processing archivist in a large institution, but perhaps I could be more dynamic archivist for a smaller community archive, like the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum. I brought this issue up at my farewell dinner with Larry, and he said that I had the potential to do either. I appreciate the vote of confidence and I believe that my conclusion will be very important as I make decisions about my next career move.

The Pan-African Film Festival has been a staple in Los Angeles for the past 21 years. The films come from around the world and are screened at a major movie theater for four days straight in February. The festival relies heavily on their staff of volunteers to get through the program. As a treat to their volunteer staff (who never get watch the movies) the program screens all of the movies at the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum exclusively for their volunteers. The museum was open until midnight on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday while the films were rolling. Cara, Larry and I took turns staying late to lock up the building. On Monday, I found some time to sit down and watch “Mugabe, Villian or Hero?”, a documentary on the controversial leader of Zimbabwe, and “The Pirogue” which was about a group Senegalese immigrants who are stranded at sea in their attempt to emigrate to Spain. The administrators from the film festival bring food and cook in our kitchen space throughout the night. There was popcorn, candy, hot dogs, nachos, cookies, soda, and beer in abundance at this event. Good films and tasty snacks made me look forward to a long night at “work”.      

As I ticked down to my last days at the fellowship, I began to feel deliriously happy that I would be free to travel and explore Los Angeles. I had been working six days a week trying to finish my work, and leave my plans and instructions for moving the collection forward. I finished organizing all of my files, digital and print, and putting my binder of materials together by Saturday morning and spent the rest of the day chatting with the volunteers in the building. It has been an incredible experience getting to know all of these individuals and they are the primary reason that I have decided to give Los Angeles a chance. I know that there are good people here who would help me if I ever needed it. These are people that appreciated all of my hard work and my vision for the future of the museum’s collection. Just when I thought I would be leaving my position without much fanfare, all of the volunteers, Lloyd, Rose Marie and Cara popped into my office to present me with gifts and friendly farewells. It was so nice. I have a few ideas about what I will be doing after this fellowship, but I am sure that today will not be the last time that I see all of those smiling faces. 

Shout out to my fellow fellows, We MADE it! Can't wait to see you all in New Orleans, :)

Chaitra Powell: Week 38 @ The Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum

In my 38^th week at the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum, I attended an IMLS Career Festival at The University of California at Riverside.

I felt very fortunate to have met Dr. Patricia Smith-Hunt at last week's Board of Directors meeting and I happily accepted her invitation to her IMLS Career Festival in Riverside. Dr. Smith-Hunt is one of the administrators for an IMLS grant to increase diversity in librarianship for the Inland Empire area of southern California. The majority of their participants are current students in M.L.S. programs and the grant supports them with funding for tuition and professional development. Their program had funding to pay for me to spend the night before the event in a hotel in Riverside. This way I would not have to fight traffic out of Los Angeles to make it to Riverside for the 8:30 AM start time. The day was jam packed with guest speakers and opportunities to network. The best part of the event is that all of the information was geared toward individuals that were starting careers in special, school, academic and public libraries. I learned about trends in the job market and how we can frame our experience and education to be more attractive to employers.

The career counselor for San Jose State University spent the entire afternoon talking about resumes, interviews and cover letters. She even workshop-ed our resumes at the end of the day. I have not seen my paper “bleed” that much since my freshman honors English class. She encouraged me to be more direct with the information in my resume with less narrative; and focus on my accomplishments. She also recommended that I used “Related Experience” rather than “Employment History”, so that I could put my volunteer experience alongside my “work” experience. Prior to the HistoryMakers, I had read so many books about resumes and assumed I had put together a strong one, but I thought that her advice was sound and I am going to spend some time updating mine. She also said that every resume should be tailored to fit the job that you are applying for, no exceptions. She recommended a master resume that lists everything that you have ever done and just pull what is extremely relevant when drafting the resume for a prospective job.

One of the speakers gave one fact and asked one question that pointed to the fundamental problem of any job search. The fact is that the overwhelming majority of people find their jobs through networking and when she asked how we felt about networking; the answers were awkward, forced, fake, and uncomfortable. She encouraged us to re-frame the way that we look at networking and just take the time to get to know one new person at a time; it does not have to be business card collecting marathon. With the M.L.S. degree as the common denominator for everyone in the room; it was nice to hear how we can manipulate our skill sets to work in a grand variety of atmospheres. I am guilty of just entering “archivist” in the search field and wondering why I don’t get very many hits; why not enter “content manager” or “researcher” or “metadata” and see what comes up. Libraries and archives are not the only places that need archivists. I took five pages of notes and talked to a good number of folks that are excited about pursuing careers in information science. Overall, it was a nice change of scenery and a great way to get some perspective on the variety of opportunities that are available after this fellowship.       

Chaitra Powell: Week 37 @ The Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum

In my 37^th week at the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum, I presented my work to the Collection Advisory Board and the museum’s Board of Directors.

I have coordinated four meetings with the Collections Advisory Board of the museum this year and I am thoroughly satisfied with the symbiotic relationship that we have established. When I speak at The University of Chicago in a couple of weeks, I will be sharing the importance of having a strong group of diverse professionals giving advice on the direction of our work. It was the Collections Advisory Board who recommended that we focus exclusively on Dr. Clayton’s collection before moving on to any other materials. I was proud to share that I had completed an exhaustive finding aid for Dr. Clayton’s collection. This 14 page document sparked an idea for a researcher’s symposium to be sponsored by the Advisory Board in September. The event would showcase Dr. Clayton’s collection, let researcher’s know that we are open and begin a new focus on scholarship in the museum. I’m not sure what my role with this group will be in the future but I am proud that I could be the impetus for the discussions and the recommendations that would move the museum forward.

On Sunday, Larry asked me to present at the monthly Board of Director’s meeting. I knew that their evaluation of me would carry a lot of weight when they were allocating money for my continued employment at the museum, so I was a little nervous. Then I remembered that I had worked very hard on my projects and if they could not see the value in what I had done, I probably should not be working there at all. I was one of their last agenda items, and I came in with my handouts and list of talking points. I shared that I was going to be presenting on this information in a few weeks and would love their feedback at the end of my remarks. I started off talking about my work on the duplicate book project (from the general collection), and how it generated the inventory (1145 books) for our upcoming book sales and the permanent bookstore within the museum. I also discussed the 119 duplicate books that we had pulled from the rare book collection, which we were shopping around to auction houses. I gave a brief overview of the Audio Assault exhibit and how well it has been received by the visitors to the museum. I also shared how I designed the Roses and Revolutions Listening Party as a complement to the exhibit, and what I learned from planning a public program at MCLM.

When it came to my work on the collections, I identified seven challenges that I encountered and how we managed to deal with them. One of the highlights was the establishment of an accession chart, so that we would know when everything was received, how big it was, and prioritize collections for processing. I also discussed my drive to move collection processing toward the industry standard in order for inclusion on the Online Archive of California. I used the Dr. Mayme A. Clayton Collection of African American History and Culture finding aid as an example of what we should generate for every collection that we have identified, thirty nine in total. I felt like I was talking too fast because I thought they were all ready to get out of that long meeting. I did get some positive feedback from some of the members of the board and several followed up with me after the meeting to discuss what my plans were for after the fellowship. Overall, it was a good exercise for me to showcase the leadership, execution, and work ethic that I exhibited in my time at the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum. 

Amanda J. Carter: Week 39 (May 27 – June 2) @ Fisk University

McKissack & McKissack Architectural and Engineering Firm Collection
Finally, the McKissack & McKissack Collection is completed!  Last weekend I finished the scope and content notes on the finding aid and created the McKissack & McKissack Architects collection on HistoryPin.  During this final week I was able to add the blueprints to the finding aid, label all of the boxes and folders, and create the CD to send to the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC).  I am excited for it to become available to researchers.  In case you missed it in a previous blog, here is a little information about my collection (taken from the scope and contents note):

This collection includes documentation of the McKissack & McKissack Architectural and Engineering Firm during the early to mid-nineteenth century with most of the documents dated in the 1940s and 1950s.  The large majority of this collection relates to the various construction projects the McKissacks designed or constructed during this time.  Some of the projects within the collection are extensively documented and can include blueprints, correspondence, payroll, and other office records.  However, most of the projects are minimally documented and do not include all aspects of the project.  Also included in this collection are personal family photographs and newspaper clippings, community involvement records, and stockholder information. 

Please feel free to review my previous blog entries for cool finds or more information about specific series in the collection.  It is an amazing portrayal of African American life in the south during the early to mid-twentieth century. 

Future Prospects

I am awaiting word from two interviews I had recently.  I received word at the end of last week that I should hear about the possibility of another interview within the next week or two.  There is also another offer on the table, but I hesitate to give too many details because the job has not officially been posted, yet.  All in all, I do seem to have a few options and possibilities so I feel confident about my future. 

Good-bye

Well, this is it: the final blog on the final day of the final week of this year-long fellowship.  What a roller coaster of experiences this has been.  I appreciate the opportunity so I must thank the HistoryMakers and Franklin Library at Fisk University.  I also want to show my appreciation to the amazing fellows with whom I have had the pleasure of working over the last year: Alex, Skyla, Chaitra, Ardra, and Cynthia.  I expect that we will all keep in touch long after this fellowship is a distant memory.

Have a wonderful summer!   

 

Farewell,

Amanda J. Carter

Franklin Library, Fisk University

IMLS HistoryMakers Fellow 2012-2013

Ardra Whitney: Week 39 @ Avery Research Center (Over and Out!)

My celebration song!

Monday, May 27^th - Tuesday, May 28^th:

With the two days I had left before returning to New York, I focused on bringing my labeling and arranging of folders from the Virginia Geraty Papers to completion. To expedite the process I pulled all the dated notebooks from the collection I had inventoried and labeled these folders first. Then I worked on labeling folders for the undated notebooks. I also reviewed the folder contents from the correspondence series in order to take notes, which I would use towards creating the collection’s finding aid. On Tuesday, Manager of Archival Services, Aaron Spelbring treated me to a farewell lunch at Bull Street Gourmet & Market; where we talked about our previous jobs before coming to the Avery Research Center, apartment hunting in Chicago, and the strong nose-tingly heat from my Bull Street Club sandwich’s dijonaise sauce. Before leaving—Processing Archivist, Georgette Mayo gave me a big hug and we exchanged thank you’s: her, for all my hard work during this nine-month residency and me, for all the great lessons learned and experience gained through it.

Ardra Whitney: Week 38 @ Avery Research Center

More Fellowship Extras: A photo of the topiary outside of the Family Circle Tennis Center at this year's Family Circle Cup. Scroll to the end for details.

Monday, May 20^th:

I was asked by Manager of Archival Services, Aaron Spelbring to monitor the reading room and provide reference service to a patron researching the family papers of DeCosta-Seabrook, Sterrett-Hodge and Graves for a book she’s writing. I have mostly performed virtual reference up until now, so this opportunity gave me a chance to employ my in person reference service skills to engage the researcher in a polite and friendly manner—as well as suggest other collections she might be interested in viewing, inform her about Avery’s policies concerning the reproduction of collection materials and make her overall visit a pleasant and enjoyable one. The patron explained that she was from Idaho, but had lived in Charleston at one point. She also told me about a Charleston high school she had learned about from Harlan Green, Director of Archival and Reference Services at College of Charleston, which was integrated in the 1930s (thirty-three years before Rivers High School of Charleston became know as the first racially-integrated high school in the state of South Carolina). She learned from prior research at the Post & Courier archives that the school was once located at either George or Society Street; so as part of her research at Avery, she was looking for documents  to confirm the school’s true location.  

Tuesday, May 21^st - Wednesday, May 22^nd:

On Tuesday morning I participated in an IMLS Fellows Conference Call with The HistoryMakers to discuss final reports, paychecks, employment plans/job offers, and the 2013 SAA Conference. It was great hearing from all the fellows regarding their completed or nearly completed work (*smile*) and their plans following the fellowship. I found what Woodson Regional Library’s (Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature) IMLS Fellow, Skyla Hearn and the Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum’s IMLS Fellow, Chaitra Powell had to say particularly interesting. Ms. Hearn explained that she was in talks to do some consulting work at Northeastern Illinois University for the Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies Archives. Also Ms. Powell will be presenting next week at “Never the Same: Symposium on Grassroots Archiving” at the University of Chicago’s Logan Center for the Arts. After the meeting, I spent the rest of the day labeling and arranging folders from the Virginia Geraty Papers’ and was able to complete the collection series containing educational and instructional material.

On Wednesday, I e-mailed images of myself and from two collections which I had recently processed (i.e., The St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Records and Friendly Union Society Records) to Associate Director, Deborah Wright for inclusion in Avery’s newsletter.

Thursday, May 23^rd:

At 11AM I met with Mr. Spelbring and Processing Archivist, Georgette Mayo to discuss archival staff updates and my departure from Avery in conclusion of the fellowship. Afterwards, I continued labeling folders from the Virginia Geraty Papers’ notebooks sub-series with the help of Avery Scholar, Jada Brown and Front Desk Receptionist, Emma King. At 4PM I attended and participated in The HistoryMakers’ last monthly professional development conference call with the Head of Collections/Technical Services at Indiana University’s Archives of African American Music and Culture (AAAMC), Brenda Nelson-Strauss. During the call, she discussed the many challenges of: acquiring collections from popular musicians and music artists, preserving and storing large music collections, and digitizing older audio formats. I also asked her about: the AAAMC’s collection strengths, their providing workshops to musicians on how to create and maintain personal archives, and the status of their grant program--funded by the GRAMMY Foundation--to digitize interviews from Rhythm & Blues pioneers. With regards to the Rhythm & Blues pioneers digitization project, She noted that Indiana University and Northwestern University were currently working together to code and load audio and video interviews from the project for online access using an open source discovery interface they created called Avalon Media System.

Friday, May 24^th:

I continued labeling and arranging folders from the Virginia Geraty Papers’ notebooks sub-series with the help of my two volunteers, Ms. Brown and Ms. King. Our combined efforts brought the total number of completed boxes from the collection to nine out of eleven. I also posted an audio clip from my interview with Associate Professor in Arts Management at the College of Charleston, Dr. Karen Chandler to Black in the Lowcountry’s Tumblr page. I’m really proud of how well the page turned out. :)

Fellowship Extras Continued:

I got tickets to the final tennis match of the 2013 Family Circle Cup between Serena Williams and Jelena Jankovic!

Williams and Jankovic preparing for their match, which Williams won in three sets.